VII.

The launch is crowded with the faithful few Who wait their Chief, a melancholy crew: But some remained reluctant on the deck Of that proud vessel--now a moral wreck-- And viewed their Captain's fate with piteous eyes; While others scoffed his augured miseries, 130 Sneered at the prospect of his pigmy sail, And the slight bark so laden and so frail. The tender nautilus, who steers his prow, The sea-born sailor of his shell canoe, The ocean Mab, the fairy of the sea, Seems far less fragile, and, alas! more free. He, when the lightning-winged Tornados sweep The surge, is safe--his port is in the deep-- And triumphs o'er the armadas of Mankind, Which shake the World, yet crumble in the wind. 140